Will 2019 be the summer of marijuana in Massachusetts?

Matthew Reid

Friday

Jul 12, 2019 at 7:01 AM

As summer temperatures soar into the 90s, residents and tourists are heading outside, packing public parks, pools, beaches and other outdoor recreational areas across the state. But there’s also something new in the air this season -- marijuana.

This is the first summer since dispensaries started legally selling recreational marijuana in the state. And although public consumption of marijuana remains illegal in Massachusetts, it hasn’t stopped people from consuming it outside.

Mary Randle, a Hudson mother and registered nurse, said she was in a park with her daughter one day in late June when she noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from a group of people sitting behind her. While she said none were consuming in public, she said the smell was “overwhelming.”

“I didn’t say anything to them,” Randle said. “What could I say? They weren’t breaking the law. But as a mother, I do have some concerns. I can see people pushing the laws or even using a shift in acceptability to see what they can get away with. I know how things can quickly get out of hand.”

Randle admitted her opinion of marijuana usage has shifted since she voted no on Question 4 back in 2016. She said she has started to come around on recreational usage if done properly under strict guidelines. But she still has a “nagging feeling” in the back of her mind about marijuana use becoming “as commonplace as drinking a beer.”

Proponents say many concerns over the increase in marijuana visibility could be alleviated by a better understanding of the product, as well as debunking long-held myths.

“We need to comment on the 'contact high' (getting high from second-hand smoke) concern, because that has absolutely no scientific backing whatsoever outside of being in an unventilated room while someone puffs on numerous joints,” said Maggie Kinsella, press secretary for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

Kinsella said she isn’t aware of any increase in the acceptance of smelling marijuana in public, for example, but that such a shift could come with time. Either way, if such a phenomenon were to be an issue, it would have been seen and addressed years ago.

“Weed has been smoked outside, in parks, for years,” Kinsella said. “Even before it was decriminalized, you could smell it on a hike or during a concert. The whole mindset needs an upgrade after all the ‘reefer madness,’ and it needs to be backed by science, not opinion. The smell has always been there, but now that it is legal it is becoming more well-known."

Lt. John Bonney of the Stoughton Police Department said that smelling the drug while out in public is noticeable, even if it’s not something police specifically keep track of as part of the job.

“It is tough to measure whether or not there has been an increase in the open air odor [of marijuana], as statistics weren’t and still are not kept on the subject,” Bonney wrote to Wicked Local. “However, the frequency at which the odor can be detected sitting in traffic or walking through a store is alarming.”

He said as a police officer, it’s hard not to connect the dots about people who smell like they’ve been smoking marijuana.

“There has been a lot of advocacy about the drug and its legalization has become more common around the country, but not even the advocacy groups promote that the drug is safe for use when you’re driving,” Bonney added. “So walking around in stores and smelling the drug on people is disappointing. We have not seen an uptick in walking to the grocery store, so one can easily deduce that they drove to the store high.”

Amber Krull, a Cambridge resident who works as a cashier at a Target on the South Shore, agrees that the smell in stores seems more common than ever before.

“I’ll just be ringing people up and all of a sudden it’s like I’m back in college walking through the halls of my dorm,” she said. “And it’s not like it’s one specific type of person, either. It really could be anyone.”

Kinsella argues that the increase in public visibility of the drug could actually be a good thing.

“There is this ‘concern’ that all of a sudden people are going to start smoking in public, but it hasn’t been happening. This seems to fall on deaf ears,” she said. “When people are dying of pharmaceuticals, and other very legal substances, the smell (of marijuana) can mean someone is able to live.”

This “rebranding” of marijuana as a positive rather than a negative has gained steam as medical usage has increased, and recreational facilities have started to become more commonplace around the state.

Many companies are using this summer to make themselves more visible in their communities, including Sira Naturals infusions manager Annie Wolf, who educates the public on how edibles can extend beyond cakes and brownies, and dispensaries who used events like the Fourth of July to highlight how cannabis can help veterans with PTSD.

Kinsella says the "image" of cannabis won’t become truly accepted and understood until a push toward social consumption is made. Without that element, marijuana usage will still be looked at as a taboo habit people do behind closed doors.

“It stems from a total lack of social consumption locations,” said MassCann representative Noni Goldman. “The laws here are very clear in that getting caught publicly consuming cannabis is a fine. The current laws do nothing to address the ignorance and harassment our community faces just for medicating, and puts our most vulnerable members of our community in an impossible situation. They cannot consume if they are in subsidized housing, but they'll get a fine if they're caught in the park. What is a cancer patient to do?”

State weighs social establishments

Earlier this month, cannabis regulators released rewritten rules that would govern, among other things, brick-and-mortar social consumption establishments in the state. These new proposed regulations, which came after months of policy discussions and hearings, were released to the public July 2 and outline how these “cannabis cafes” could work, and where they could be located. Public hearings to discuss the proposal are scheduled for Aug. 14 and 15.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission’s recommended Social Consumption Pilot Program would first need the passage of new statewide legislation to officially take effect.

Commissioner Shaleen Title sees no reason why residents should witness more marijuana use this summer, and echoed Kinsella’s assertion that new licensed state facilities could go a long way to mitigate such concerns.

“Public consumption remains illegal, and I haven’t seen any evidence of more use in public than before,” Title said. “But to the extent that public cannabis use is concerning to anyone, they’ll be encouraged to know that regulated, ventilated social consumption establishments, such as cannabis cafes, are on the way.”

The CCC's Cannabis Advisory Board had previously recommended allowing social consumption and suggested that it could reduce the risk of children getting a hold of the drug and may limit how much legal marijuana is illegally transported out of state by tourists.

“As businesses are continuing to be approved and open at a steady rate, users are switching from the underground market to the regulated market at a steady rate,” Title said.

Municipalities and agencies prepare

Many communities have considered updating their ordinances to explicitly include the restriction of public marijuana usage, despite it already being covered by existing state laws. Some, such as Milford, voted to put on their books a local bylaw to prohibit marijuana smoking on public property and to allow police to issue fines up to $300 for third or subsequent offenses. Malden went further by specifying that usage is prohibited within 1,000 feet of an educational facility or 100 feet of a public park or playground.

The seaside town of Duxbury voted in 2017 to prohibit public consumption on a variety of public locations, specifying everything from sidewalks and bridges to cemeteries.

Daniel Adams, a Braintree resident, said he appreciates any municipality that votes on such laws even though they may be redundant with state and federal statutes. But he has concerns that marijuana usage could soon be felt at state-owned recreational properties specifically, and hopes extra measures are taken to “keep drugs, legal or otherwise, out of nature” this summer and beyond.

Adams was fishing recently at Houghton's Pond Recreation Area, located within the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, just miles from his home.

“I view our state parks almost like sacred land,” Adams said. “In some places, it’s a real problem for those tiny liquor bottles to be scattered on the ground. I would hope steps are made to make sure pot doesn’t become a problem in the woods or on beaches after hours. Laws are one thing, but we’ll need enforcement as it becomes more accessible and available.”

The Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages Blue Hills Reservation, prohibits the possession of marijuana on all DCR-operated properties across the state unless for "duly authorized medical use" in accordance with state law.

DCR press secretary Olivia Dorrance said DCR officials have “not received many complaints” regarding marijuana usage on state recreation properties, and pointed to the rules that are already in place.

“DCR encourages visitors to contact the agency to report a violation, at which time DCR will investigate the matter,” Dorrance said.

On the occasion that a visitor is observed by DCR park rangers or staff violating agency regulations involving the use of marijuana, staff members and rangers may approach the visitors and educate them on the rules and regulations of state parks, and may request visitors to dispose of the substance or vacate the state park.